Strike a pose with the intertwined fabric WOMANEKEN. For Mad Brussels Fashion & Design Parcours in Dansaert.
Come, choose your piece of protective garment designed for a part of your body you wish to strengthen, reinforce, celebrate.
Take a seat on the silver couch in the gallery window.Strike a pose with the intertwined fabric WOMANEKEN.
A WOMANEKEN, A HEAD and A SKRIK BUST, three WOMEN* embodied protective presences, placed at strategic points:
One at the front looking out the window,
One in the center of the space,
One standing in a metal armor at the back of the room.
The first one, A WOMANEKEN,
made of intertwined fabric, knotted recycled household linens, woven band-aids. A revisited mannequin sitting in the shop window who looks out to the street to invite passers-by. This mannequin exists as a sculpted body, already with a life of her own under the garment.
The second one, A HEAD,
from which Damien Cassiers took the essence as a material to start a new work, A MASK. He used both digital and traditional techniques as an encounter with my practice. A HEAD with a crack splitting her forehead, a tear through her right eye.
The third one, A SKRIK BUST,
a metallic woman* bust surrounded by the protective garments designed for several parts of the body that need care. This bust armor is the cast from which all the garments were born. She represents a strong, protective adult woman. She stands against incest, she takes responsibility as an adult towards the child. “I believe you.” Her presence here is an echo to my stage piece SKRIK, which means The Scream.
TORSO, LEGS & FEET, BUST, HEAD, HANDS, KNEE.
Blue armors, uniforms of life. Water, sea, la mer, la mère, the mother in French. Blue that cleanses the wounds, flowing water that soothes the scars. The upcycled IKEA bags evoke domesticity, the home, the mental load carried by women*. I tear them open and empty these bags of their weight to rebuild them into armors. The visitors’ bodies become mannequins in movement within the installation, connecting to the WOMANEKEN and sharing with her the words they carry under their shield resulting in a collective poem of resistance said out loud on the closing day of the parcours.
Strike a pose with The Womaneken in the photobooth wearing a piece of protective garment.
Envahie avec du Bleu
Un petit brin d'extra-terrestre
L'imagination qui part
I feel very very comfortable
I feel good
Warm and protected and a bit difficult to breathe
Open-hearted
I have scars in my hands, it's a rest to not always show them
I don't feel anything special
Plasit, plasit is a mix of plastic and to sit
Prolongation
Warm
Si léger et pourtant si lourd
Bescherming
MYITTA
MYITTA in Birman it means loving kindness
So we feel safe and secure
Krachtig met de helm, beschermd. Als in een cocon
A shell
We are made strong and spread that strength to the people
Our body our child it can crack
Une impression d'augmenter
Wat fijn om een keer aangekleed te worden
Infatigable
Intouchable
Protection that our head needs
Calmed
Contenue
In flexible fragility lies the liquid strength. Nadia.
Sense of vulnerability through rigidity. Petra.
Protéger son thorax
La puissance impudique du nombril
Decadent, bionic, epic
I wore the gloves, they didn't fit, but they still made me feel like they belonged to my hands. De vinger als klauwen? De Schouders groter. Als een kat die band is en zich groot maakt
Jouer à se déguiser
Liberté cachette
Bescherming
WOMANEKEN, a live performance and fashion installation
by Elisabeth Woronoff, captured through the lens of Damien Cassiers,
with consulting & production design by Enyd Fracas.
For Mad Parcours Fashion & Design 2nd Edition Dansaert.
Digital and tactile
Fulfilled with cosmic power
Exhibée et cachée en même temps
Soutien
Malgré la protection je ne me sentais pas libre.
I'm ready to go fight
Short straight shoulders
High collar
Show off
I dare to take space
Décalé
Plus forte
I felt a little bit sexy and free
Decadent, bionic, epic
I felt strong! Free to behave in ways I wouldn't without wearing the pieces
Too hot the arm knight night
Bras-armure
Gant-retractable
Unexpected emotions
Ettonant car aéré à l'arrière
Je me suis sentie bien, malgré le froissement du plastique
L'amure me rend puissante.
Elle hurle au monde que j'existe tout en protégeant mon coeur.
Bescherming
Danger oublié
Warior protected and free!!!
Comme dans une maison à soi, envie de rester dedans, protégé du regard des autres alors que je suis d'autant plus visible.
Like I was stuck in a good way
Uncommun
Groeien groot
Perturbé
Light and clumpsy
Powerful
New Challenge
Like a Model
Moment d'enfance!
Embracing our pasts to find ourselves.
An extra layer is always good.
Bleu le ciel
Je me suis laisée emporter par le jeu
turn into a massive knight armer!
Protection de l'esprit mais vulnérabilité du corps.
Ma tête oublie par protection pour le physique. Danger oublié.
Je me suis sentie enfermée, mais anonyme.
Un peu comme empêchée, mais avec une certaine prestance.
Instantly empowered
Something I've never done before
No one can see me, I feel safe inside.
Bescherming.
Carapaçonée
Schtroumpf cuirassé
Lézards ou varans.
Au niveau de la puissance avec une certaine liberté.
I felt undercover, like a secret that no one knows. discrete.
La sensation de vêtir l'armure de bras était très comfortable sur la poitrine!
I felt very suffocated and a bit scared.
I was in a carcan ...but the carcan is loose... it gives the feeling of freedom
Blue dress
exhibée et cachée en même temps.
Bescherming
Our true shell true self
Show off
J'ai pensé tout de suite à Eddy Mercks
On lui donnait un journal pour les grandes descentes
Plus forte
Contenue
Strangely powerful
Robocop
I felt support and inspire to support other women
Original
Audacieux
Ca m'a gratté
J'aime le bleu, la vie en bleu c'est mieux que la vie en rose
Recyclage
Je me suis toujours cassé des parties qu'on ne pouvait pas plâtrer.
Protéger le bassin où on ne peut rien mettre
Superhero
Very fortunate lucky that I could sit with her
Share the pain with her and by sharing making it lighter
Bipolar disorder
Je me suis sentie spéciale!
I would like to wear it every day
Another corset
Metamorphosis
Butterfly
Thunder
Earthquake
Our shell
It's invisible our shell is
Our mind
Our body
We are aimed to find our true shell true self
Wear a mask and sometimes it's so heavy
the mask
Heaviness of reality
Angels hang the feathers on the porte manteaux and lie on the bed with our true selves
It happens to you also
Merging with the mirror
After removing the cask mask I feel more light
Naked
Stylé
Piquant dans les deux sens du terme
Si léger et pourtant si lourd
Constrained
Mecanisms you develop to protect yourself can sometimes turn into what also limits you
Exposed and powerful
Joyful
Gut geschützt In Brüssel
Viele Grüße aus Dresden
Bescherming